PASADENA (Mar. 17, 2019) – Fresh off their highest ranked win in program history, No. 29 Caltech men's tennis posted its second 9-0 score line of the season over 36th-ranked Hobart College on Sunday afternoon.
The marquee matchup of the day was at first doubles, where sophomores Varun Shanker (Midland, Mich. / Midland Dow) and James Wei (Chappaqua, N.Y. / Horace Greeley) squared off against their foes from the Fall ITA Cup in Alan Dubrovsky and Walker Anderson, whom them defeated 7-5, 7-5 to earn All-America status. The Beaver duo won the rematch soundly, 8-2, to lead a doubles sweep and key the dominant team victory.
Caltech rode the momentum to a hot start in singles play as the hosts took the first set on five courts, with Shanker quickly bringing the Beavers within a point of the clincher in an impressive 6-0, 6-1 win against Dubrovsky, the nation's fifth-ranked singles player. Senior Derik Nguyen (Anaheim, Calif. / Canyon) nabbed that point soon after on court six (6-4, 6-1). As his teammates closed out their matches in straight sets at courts three through five, Wei rallied at second singles to win a tiebreaker in the second set and force a super tiebreaker, in which he fell behind twice but finally outpaced his opponent 4-6, 7-6 (4), 10-7 to remain unbeaten in 2019.
Head Coach Jason Cohen and the Beavers will take on their biggest opportunity of the season this Saturday, Mar. 23 as they host a doubleheader against No. 19 Whitman College and No. 5 Williams College at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
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